The Educational Science and Scientifically Based Instruction We Need: Lessons from Reading Research and Policymaking

In this article, Michael Pressley, Nell Duke, and Erica Boling discuss the impact various scientific approaches have on early reading instruction research. The authors call for a second generation of scientifically based reading instruction that goes beyond the experimental, quasi-experimental, correlations, and qualitative designs currently informing public policy. The authors argue that the federal government's position on what constitutes "scientific research" embraces only a narrow range of potentially effective instruction. If this definition is expanded, educational policy, including for early reading instruction, can be much more successful.